Friday, June 12, 2015

Book Review: Last Year's Mistake by Gina Ciocca


Last Year's Mistake

By:

Gina Ciocca

Published:

June 9, 2015

Publisher:

Simon Pulse

Add to Goodreads


Source:

eARC from publisher for a honest review

GR's Summary:


Before: 


Kelsey and David became best friends the summer before freshman year and were inseparable ever after. Until the night a misunderstanding turned Kelsey into the school joke, and everything around her crumbled—including her friendship with David. So when Kelsey's parents decided to move away, she couldn't wait to start over and leave the past behind. Except, David wasn't ready to let her go... 


After: 


Now it's senior year and Kelsey has a new group of friends, genuine popularity, and a hot boyfriend. Her life is perfect. That is, until David's family moves to town and he shakes up everything. Soon old feelings bubble to the surface and threaten to destroy Kelsey's second chance at happiness. The more time she spends with David, the more she realizes she never truly let him go. And maybe she never wants to. 


Told in alternating sections, LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE is a charming and romantic debut about loving, leaving, and letting go.


My Thoughts:


Last Year's Mistake is a book that I was drawn to based on the pretty book cover and synopsis.  It is Kelsey's story and told exclusively through her point of view.  Each chapter alternates between the present day forward, and than goes back to a year ago in the past, and moves to the point in which Kelsey and David stopped being friends.  In the present time, Kelsey is in her senior year of high school, and is happy with her hot boyfriend, Ryan, and a close-knit group of friends.  

However, her life is turned upside down when she see's David at school, a guy that you can immediately tell once meant a lot to her and still does.  However, for an unknown reason, they are uncomfortable with one another, and at times there is tension and animosity between the two of them.  What happened a year ago to cause Kelsey and David to drift apart?  

I loved Last Year's Mistake.  Seeing the way that Kelsey and David's friendship started out, and then blossomed in to something beautiful touched my heart.  Even though Ryan appeared to be a pretty good boyfriend, I felt that what Kelsey and David had was very special and unique.  Their families were close, and they had been there for each other through a lot of happy and tough times.

The story truly depicted what many teens and even adults go through.  Kelsey and David had growing pains, poor communication with one another at times, which was very frustrating, and they both made a lot of mistakes along the way.  Yet, these very things are necessary for growth, and learning.  

It was hard reading about the way Kelsey was treated at her original high school.  A group of girls made her life miserable, and David was a bit naive to it all.  The plot of the story was very fast paced, had some exciting twists, and kept my attention the whole way through.  This story wrecked havoc on my emotions!  I even found myself crying a few times as I read.

Last Year's Mistake brought me back to my teenage years, when you are learning who you are, social cliques can make or break you, and your first love is someone that you'll always remember.
My Rating:


I give, Last Year's Mistake, by Gina Ciocca, 4 Beautiful Friendship, Growing Up, and Falling in Love Filled Stars!!!







Book Teaser:


Purchase At:

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | kobo



About Gina Ciocca:
Author of LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE (Simon Pulse, 2015) Respecter of the Fluff. Lover of love. I am represented by John M. Cusick at Greenhouse Literary.






8 comments:

  1. Aw, this sounds like a really cute book, this kind of reminds me of a second chance romance although they were just friends to begin with. I heard many reviews about this one, but I avoided since it might be another fluffy novel - you have me your review though Lindy! Just finished adding this book to my TBR, thank you for the awesome review :)
    <3 Benish | Feminist Reflections

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  2. I have this one still to read. I was also drawn to it by the cover and blurb. I like that it held your attention and had growth. Sounds like I need to get to it.

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  3. Love the cover and the title. Wasn't sure if I wanted to read it but after your review I am thinking that I will have to give it a try. Hate that David was silly at the old school.

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  4. Once in a while I enjoy books that capture the teen years both the nostalgia and the heartbreaks and ah yes, the mistakes. The blurb has me drawn in too. Enjoyed your review, Lindy.

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  5. Cute! I love when we get growth and the cover is fun.

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  6. Girls can be so mean in school! Grrrr.... Glad she was able to grow and form better relationships in her new school. Great review Lindy!

    Naomi @ Naomi’s Reading Palace

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  7. I love stories where the main characters start out as friends, and then evolve to something more. Mean girls are the bane of my existence! I never got why some people think it's OK to push other people down - it doesn't make themselves stand any higher at all.
    Great review, Lindy, adding yet another book to my TBR ;)

    Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews

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  8. Hi Lindy! I'm coming back to this review because it was one of my favorites for LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE - it's forever immortalized in my release day recap post. I wanted to let you know that I'm running a Reviewer Appreciation Giveaway from now through 12/9/15 to celebrate my newest book deal. And if you wouldn't mind reposting this review on Amazon or B &N (if you haven't already), there are prizes to be won. Here are the details, and thank you again for such a lovely review! http://www.writersblog-gina.blogspot.com/2015/11/in-which-i-have-news-and-celebrate-with.html

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